It is known to remove solids from hydrocarbons and other organic liquids by the use of electrofilters. The electrofilter is a device having a filter bed of a porous medium in which an electric field is maintained by one or more energized electrodes. The electric field is of high intensity so that the solids are removed from the liquid stream by becoming tenaciously attached to the surfaces of the porous medium. Such porous medium may be, for example, a polyurethane foam or may be composed of hard granular particles.
Among the electrofilters of this general type, mention may be made of those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,856 to Franse, U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,528 to Griswold, U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,158 to Fritsche, U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,498 to Crissman et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,926 to Oberton.
It is an object of this invention to provide improved electrofiltration apparatus.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a removable filter pack for an electrofiltration apparatus.
It is still an additional object of this invention to provide an efficient electrofiltration process.
Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description.